The invention relates to a pulsed electron beam source based on the vacuum diode principle and comprising a vacuum diode with a multi-point emission cathode, a control grid, a pulse generator, a magnetic compression unit including field coils, a drift chamber, a target chamber and a synchronization unit.
The publication V.I. Engelko et al., "PULSED HEAT TREATMENT OF MATERIAL SURFACE", 9.sup.th Int. Conf. On High Power Particle Beams, 92 p. 1935 (1992) discloses an electron vacuum diode with a multipoint emission cathode which is capable of delivering 60-180 KeV electron beams with current densities of up to 60 A/cm.sup.2 and pulse durations of up to 40 .mu.s.
It is the object of the present invention to provide such an electron beam source which is capable of generating pulses of durations of 100 .mu.s and not only pulses with rectangular pulse forms but also pulses with stepped pulse forms.